“I know it’s almost upon you. When you see the things start to bloom a little bit, you know it’s coming,” Vogt said.

“It seems rather early, but we’re already seeing a spike in the number of people suffering from tree pollen allergy,” said Dr. John Bacon, St. Joseph Medical Center.

Bacon says avoiding allergents is the goal, but if you can’t, medicines are getting better all the time.

While grass and trees have not started to bloom area-wide here in Maryland, doctors say the culprit is the wind. Not only does it bring in temperatures from the south, it’s also helping blow in pollen.

“Once we have a warm patch and particular windy weather, it stirs up the pollen and it can blow in from miles away,” Bacon said.

So if winter is bad, what can we expect next?

“I don’t know what this spring is going to be like, except I have a bad feeling it’s going to be worse than last year if we’re already getting phone calls in February,” Bacon said.

“Even with allergies, I’d rather do allergies than the snow,” Vogt said.

Close to 50 million Americans have hay fever triggered by irritants in the air.